I wanted a Soloist and found this on eBay and bought it having never played it and got lucky. Wow, other than a little tarnish on the input jack plate and tuners it's in NOS condition. It's certainly not a vintage instrument but it has some old guitar vibe.

Mike Shannon is a long time Jackson custom shop builder and had a hand in the Soloist and RR designs. While this isn't a true custom guitar they were a limited production run in the late '90's. Has the Mike Shannon signature.

Newer Jackson Soloists have a recessed Floyd but the Shannon model has a chrome top mount German Original Floyd which I prefer. It's more 80's that way. The neck, yes neck thru, is at an angle to accommodate the Floyd sitting on top of the body so the strings sit way up high like a Gibson.

The quater sawn maple neck has of course 24 medium jumbo frets, ebony fret board and real MOP sharkfin inlays, chrome Gotoh tuners and a silkscreen Jackson logo. Once and for freakin' all the 1 11/16 neck is .750" at the 1st fret and about .875" at the 12th fret. The Jackson neck measures EXACTLY the same as the neck on my 1999 Gibson Gothic Flying V. It even feels like the neck on the Gibson. In contrast my USA production Charvel also has the same measurements but the Charvel has a C shape while the Jackson and the Gibson have a more squared off D shape to the fretboard edge. The Jackson (and the Charvel) have a compound fretboard radius. Nice.

The guitar originally had a Duncan Pearly Gates but the previous owner swapped it out for a ceramic Duncan Parallel Axis Distortion (and included the original pup). For now the Parallel Axis is staying. I don't know what the single coils are, they seem hot. Heck I don't even own a "single coil amp" haha. I might swap out the neck for something lower output. Also installed is a Floyd upgrades big brass L block and a trem stopper.. it is a top mount Floyd after all.

Overall what a beautiful awesome sounding guitar! It sounds BIG. Leads scream and chords are distinct notes. Sustain for days! The fit and finish on this guitar are outstanding. The pictures I posted don't do it justice. There isn't a rough unpolished spot anywhere and the binding over the fret ends is absolutely perfect. The cool part, I got this for about $100 more than a new import Jackson.

Thanks for looking everyone and Rock ON!

Tom 1.0

10-04-2010 12:32 PM

Wow.

What else can i say?

HNGD dude.

Nameless742

10-04-2010 12:37 PM

Beautiful Guitar.
Well spotted.

gregs1020

10-04-2010 12:39 PM

increased neck angle? i'm listening. :five:

very nice bob, like holy shit nice bob. :cheers:

Mazz211

10-04-2010 01:10 PM

HNGD! Simple yet completely F***ing badass, I like it. ^_^

MM14

10-04-2010 01:12 PM

HNGD, but i do need compensation due to me being blinded by the epicness of the guitar

Nameless742

10-04-2010 01:18 PM

oh yeah, and epic sandals man!

Dave_Mc

10-04-2010 01:20 PM

badass, very nice indeed.

extra neck angle is cool too :D

Shaggy212

10-04-2010 01:23 PM

Happy new Guitar Day!!!!!!!!!11111 sweet axe and plays and sounds great ....... you got a great guitar

Metalfan41

10-04-2010 01:30 PM

Holy dickbiscuit, HNGD. That thing looks damn fine

LP_CL

10-04-2010 01:44 PM

Soloists are the shit man! Congrats. I only like my washburn better. But my soloist has served me for so many years, and it still amazes me.

HNGD!

BobDetroit

10-04-2010 01:55 PM

Thanks guys. I'm enjoying this guitar!

Quote:

Originally Posted by gregs1020

increased neck angle? i'm listening. :five:

very nice bob, like holy shit nice bob. :cheers:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave_Mc

badass, very nice indeed.

extra neck angle is cool too :D

For you cats who don't know what we're talking about..

As I understand it, back in the day when a Floyd was still an add on accessory you would remove your vintage ( it wasn't called vintage then) six screw trem and sink a couple hardened V notched wood screws into the top of your Strat and slap the new trem right on top. Since the neck pocket was routed parallel to the body when you strung up that tall Floyd the action on the 21st fret.. the last one, was a half inch off the fretboard. To "fix" that you would put shims under the heel of the neck so the fretboard pointed up in the air and everything lined up right, sort of. If you recess the trem everything lines up with the normal body parallel to the neck set up. If you want to top mount a Floyd on a bolt on you can also route the neck pocket at an angle like Charvel does on the USA production models. If you want to top mount the Floyd on a Jackson neck thru well.. you can't shim anything so you have to make it that way, which is why we're fussing over the neck angle.

philipk

10-04-2010 02:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BobDetroit

Thanks guys. I'm enjoying this guitar!

For you cats who don't know what we're talking about..

As I understand it, back in the day when a Floyd was still an add on accessory you would remove your vintage ( it wasn't called vintage then) six screw trem and sink a couple hardened V notched wood screws into the top of your Strat and slap the new trem right on top. Since the neck pocket was routed parallel to the body when you strung up that tall Floyd the action on the 21st fret.. the last one, was a half inch off the fretboard. To "fix" that you would put shims under the heel of the neck so the fretboard pointed up in the air and everything lined up right, sort of. If you recess the trem everything lines up with the normal body parallel to the neck set up. If you want to top mount a Floyd on a bolt on you can also route the neck pocket at an angle like Charvel does on the USA production models. If you want to top mount the Floyd on a Jackson neck thru well.. you can't shim anything so you have to make it that way, which is why we're fussing over the neck angle.

thanks for the info and HNGD :)

Dave_Mc

10-04-2010 02:22 PM

yeah, i know (unless you meant you were explaining it for people other than us, and that we'd just brought it up).

But yeah, it's a good idea. As you said, the action'd be a mile high at the higher frets if you didn't have a neck angle there.

Tom 1.0

10-04-2010 02:23 PM

get a side on pic to show us.....

please?

Vendetta V

10-04-2010 02:28 PM

i haet you!! :sad:

HFNGD MAN!!! :D

hows the neck?!?

Dave_Mc

10-04-2010 02:29 PM

^^ you can see it in the last pic a bit (if you know what to look for), you can sort of see that the neck is hitting the body at an angle.

Tom 1.0

10-04-2010 02:32 PM

I know I just wanted more pics lol

SYLrules88

10-04-2010 02:33 PM

how would you describe that parallel axis humbucker? im guessing you like it since you said you're keeping it. can you compare it to other seymour duncans?